


on adopting children with kids of their own

by broyals



Series: down the hall [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Crossover, Good Parent Joyce Byers, Sally Jackson is a Good Parent, Will Byers and Eleven | Jane Hopper Are Best Friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-29 05:33:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19823578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/broyals/pseuds/broyals
Summary: She opens the door to find a girl holding a baby in her arms, a plastic bag slung around her wrist.ORthe one where joyce byers essentially adopts sally jackson





	on adopting children with kids of their own

**Author's Note:**

> uh percy jackson canon who

They end up moving to New York, perhaps a bit further away than Joyce had originally planned. It's mainly a matter of circumstance, what with Jonathan having a scholarship offering in NYU and Joyce being able to find a well paying job and a low rent apartment during their short trip to scout out the place.

The apartment has three rooms, a small joint dining room/living room near the entrance, one bathroom and a kitchen. It's not the fanciest place on Earth, but it's cheap and big enough for her family and, really, what else could she ask for?

Joyce doesn't meet any of the neighbors as they move in, finding that the apartment across the hall is empty at the time and none of the other floors are really paying any attention to her. She's not sure about whether or not that's a good thing, but she'll take it. That night, however, there's a knock on her door at about eight, as Will and El decorate their room (they had both insisted to share, leaving Jonathan with his own room) and Jonathan is out looking for a job.

She opens the door to find a girl (because she may have tired eyes and weariness in her stance, but the person standing in front of Joyce Byers looks barely older than her eldest son, has the body of someone just becoming a woman) holding a baby in her arms, a plastic bag slung around her wrist.

"Hello, I'm Sally," Says the girl, "I bought you cookies, as a welcome gift. I live down the hall." 

"Hey," Joyce smiles at her, and feels this strange urge to just mother the clearly exhausted girl in front of her, "I'm Joyce. Come on in." 

"Oh, that's not-" 

"Please" 

Sally sighs and steps inside as Joyce takes the cookie bag from her. The older woman leads them to the kitchen and places the welcoming gift on the table. 

"Will! El! Cookies!" Joyce calls out to her children. 

The pair come running out, and El stops at the entrance to the kitchen, staring openly at Sally. 

"Baby," She whisper-shouts, almost like she's afraid of waking up the very much awake baby. 

Sally chuckle and nods, walking towards them, "You wanna hold him?" 

El nods, albeit a bit hesitantly, and extends her arms with caution. Sally carefully places the baby that's presumably her son onto Eleven's arms and the girl looks mesmerized and gentle, and so very happy, so Joyce feels her own face reflect this happiness. 

"Name?" She asks. 

"He's Perseus, he's two months old," Answers Sally. 

"Yours?" 

"Yeah, he's my son," Sally's voice sounds slightly tight, not like this is a bad thing but like she's expecting a negative reaction, and is ready to argue. Joyce's heart aches. 

El shakes her head, "I meant name." 

Her words are slow and stilted like they often are, but unlike most strangers, Sally doesn't comment on this, or even make a face. She introduces herself, then asks for the girl's name, probably only as courtesy, given that she'd just heard it. 

"Jane," There's a pause, "El." 

"Pretty name you've got there, Jane El," Sally replies. 

El smiles, blushing slightly as she looks down at Perseus, who she's still holding. 

Joyce really looks at the baby for the first time, having being focused on his mother, and realizes that, although they both have the same dark skin, he doesn't look as much like her as she'd initially thought. Sally's hair is of a soft brown color, curly going towards wavy, while Perseus' is black and looking frizzy even in its shortness. Where Sally's face is long, kind of heart-shaped, Perseus' is round. The most notable difference lies in their eyes, hers being light blue, warm and kind, and his bright and sharp, of a sea green color. They're wide as they stare up at El, before they go to her hair. He brings his hand to where his eyes point and starts biting at the hair, resulting in a slightly panicked look from El to Sally, who chuckles.

"Here," Sally says as she takes her son from the younger girl's arms. 

Will, who had stayed quiet up until that moment, speaks, his voice quiet, "Can I?" 

"Sure," The young mother leaves the gap open for the boy's name, which Will supplies as the baby is being passed to him. 

Will is looking down and cooing, a small smile on his face as El peers from beside him with curious eyes at the interaction. Joyce realizes with a start that this is the first time El has seen a baby in real life and she has no idea of what to do, unlike Will, who spent much of Holly's early days at the Wheeler household. 

Perseus grabs onto Will's finger and starts pulling it towards his mouth before Will pulls back, "My hands aren't clean, sorry," 

El looks confused at Will's addressing of the baby, but before she can ask, Will speaks again. 

"Actually, I should go do that," He hands the baby to Sally before grabbing El's hand and walking towards the bathroom. 

("What?" Joyce hears El ask down the hall. 

"We're washing our hands so we can hold the baby.") 

She turns to Sally, who has gone to entertain her son with her necklace. 

"You can stay for dinner," Joyce offers. 

"I'm supposed to be welcoming you," Sally says, but she accepts the offer. 

Will and El aren't gone for very long, but in that time Joyce manages to learn that Sally is nineteen and recently unemployed. Sally learns that the Byers moved from Hawkins after a tramatic event and they're missing the eldest son to start dinner. 

Will and El walk back in, the latter with a renowed determination to hold the baby. Sally chuckles as El is careful to hold Perseus' head up like Will is showing her. The girl continues to imitate Will's motions as she rocks the baby back and forth, and soon there's a yawn. 

Sally looks like she's about to step in but then she looks at the clock and instead just lets El rock Perseus to sleep. Soon the boy's eyes are closed and his breaths are calm. El looks very fond as she softly smiles, mirroring Will beside her. 

Everyone is being very quiet, and Joyce feels a sudden rush of affection for her kids, and these neighbors they've just met. She wishes Jonathan would get home already to be part of the scene. Joyce finally takes Perseus into her own arms, for the first time that night, and she's surprised at how light he is. It's been very long since she last held a baby, and she had forgotten how delicate they were. She fears she might hold too tight or top loose, she fears she might drop him, but he looks so calm in her arms, and she wants to hold him forever. 

She wants to hold his mother forever too, a child with a child of her own. 

Suddenly, the door to the apartment is being slammed open and there's a shout of "MOM!" that wakes Perseus up. The baby is immediately grabbed by his mother as she stands up and starts rocking him to calm him down. 

Jonathan rushes into the kitchen, looking slightly bewildered, presumably from the fact that there's a crying baby he doesn't know in his new home. As soon as he sees Sally trying to get Perseus to fall back to sleep, he walks toward her hesitantly, an apologetic look on his face and nervousness in his stance. It's clear he has no idea of what to do. Sally sees him and gives him a reassuring smile, as if to say "It's okay". 

Looking at them next to each other, Jonathan absolutely clueless on how to help, not knowing how to deal with a baby, and Sally, barely his elder, yet so much older all the same, reassuring him that she's got it covered, Joyce makes the mental promise to herself that she will not let the young mother raise Perseus with no support. She refuses to.

**Author's Note:**

> comments are appreciated


End file.
